Journey mapping from a crew's perspective: Understanding rail experiences

Appl Ergon. 2020 May:85:103063. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2020.103063. Epub 2020 Feb 1.

Abstract

Technological developments present diverse opportunities to modernise services for the rail industry. Systems can be implemented to improve passengers' experiences, but these may also affect the experiences of crew working on board trains. This first-of-a-kind research extends the concept of customer journey mapping as a design tool to understand the experiences of train crew. To produce these crew journey maps, interviews and user observation methods were adopted (N = 22). Results show that two main negative touchpoints for the crew occur at the platform-train interface and during revenue protection activities. This paper presents an innovative methodological contribution around journey mapping to better understand rail experiences, but revolving around the crew rather than the expected consumer experience. We conclude this paper proposing requirements for technological systems and indicate opportunities for the design of systems to generate human-centred improvements for the working practices and experiences of train crew.

Keywords: Customer journey map; Qualitative study; Shadowing; User experience; Work satisfaction.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Man-Machine Systems*
  • Qualitative Research
  • Railroads*
  • Systems Analysis*
  • United Kingdom
  • User-Computer Interface*
  • Work / psychology*
  • Workflow